subs. phr. (military).—The Fiftieth Foot. [From the fact that, in action, during the Peninsular War, the men wiped their faces with their black facings.] Also nicknamed the BLIND HALF-HUNDRED.
1841. LEVER, Charles O’Malley, ch. xciv. A kind of neutral tint between green and yellow, like nothing I know of except the facings of the ‘DIRTY HALF-HUNDRED.’
